


My Clint In Avengers Assemble Meta

by skyfallat221b



Series: Clint Metas. [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Meta, Other, it's meta, this isn't a fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-24
Updated: 2015-11-24
Packaged: 2018-05-03 05:55:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5279297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyfallat221b/pseuds/skyfallat221b
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My original meta that I wrote back in January because I had feels about Clint Barton and that I couldn't keep it to myself.<br/>Here is the original tumblr post: http://spectralarchers.tumblr.com/post/108852016082</p><p>There's the sequel, My Clint in Age of Ultron Meta, which you can find under my works :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Clint In Avengers Assemble Meta

Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, hasn't been the most visible character in the MCU this far. We've seen him for a cameo role in Thor for approximately 90 seconds total, and then a grand total of 12 minutes and 44 seconds, his longest continued shot being the 2 minutes and 40 seconds' scene with Black Widow on the helicarrier after their fight.

But, even though his total screentime is only roughly 15 minutes, there is so much we can learn from who Clint Barton is, and what made Hawkeye an incredibly important character in the movie. This is my attempt to make all the 'Hawkeye isn't important!' people realize that they are wrong. (I don't specialize in meta, I only specialize in making gifsets and crying over Clint Barton, but I do know a lot of Clint Barton's comic book history too.)

I hope you're ready for the ride, it's going to be a long one.

_(Contains spoilers for Thor, Fury's Big Week, The Avengers)._

~~_(It's 5,800+ words long. When I tell you you're in for a ride, you really are)._ ~~

I'm going to first dive into the scene that we get in Thor. It's a very short scene, one that we all probably know by heart by now, but as it's the _first_ shot we get of Hawkeye, it's a pretty important one.

Coulson, whom we all know from the Iron Man movies is calling the shots as a SHIELD officer, and when Thor goes in to get Mjölnir back from the crater (fighting his way through SHIELD security folk), Coulson calls for help, "I need eyes up high, with a gun," which then cuts to a shot of a weapons' closet, and a pair of hands first reaching for a machine gun (I'm not weapons' expert, but I do think that it's a machine gun), before reaching for the bow.

> _**EDIT:[thearchertheangel](http://thearchertheangel.tumblr.com/) corrected me here:**_  
>    
>  I just wanted to point out that the gun Clint foregoes in Thor is actually a sniper rifle not a machine gun, which is also very important, as snipers are considered to be VERY excellent shots, and Clint has made his name as being the BEST marksman in the world, but he foregoes the sniper rifle in favor of a BOW which can only mean that he is better on the bow, than he is on the sniper rifle which proves how AMAZING the Amazing Hawkeye really is. 

Anyone who doesn't know Hawkeye's archery abilities would think 'uh?' at this point, but I also want to point out that Clint Barton takes the decision to divert the 'with a gun' order to another one, by consciously grabbing his bow. Not only does that mean that Clint Barton thinks about the probable outcome of this command (shooting the intruder, aka Thor), but **he also thinks about which weapon would be the best to use against said intruder: maybe it would be best to not kill him, but just maim?** Which, you can do with a gunshot, of course, but using the bow and an arrow instead allows Clint to slow down Thor more (Thor with an arrow sticking out of his body will slow him down while he fights, rather than just a bullet going into his body. _Try having a 50 cm stick sticking out of your body, see how that works for you_ ).   
(Also yes, this is me giving this way too much thought.)

Cue to the scene of Clint jumping into the cage thing that will take him up high, before we cut to Coulson asking for 'Barton, to talk to me.' Aka Coulson gives Clint enough importance to assess the situation for him and be his eyes (I see better from a distance, much?).  

([x](http://ghostsintheeye.tumblr.com/post/100472891179))

Clint here asks what the further instructions are and with that one second sentence - 'more guys for him to beat up' he gives a vital clue for Coulson: **none of the security guys are standing their ground at Thor's strength** , and it looks like they aren't doing much to stop him from getting close to the hammer. Coulson replies an 'I'll let you know,' as he hurries closer to the location of the hammer in the SHIELD base.

The only guy who apparently manages to knock Thor off a little bit is the SHIELD soldier Thor tells he's fought bigger. After Thor has knocked that guy unconscious, Hawkeye's sarcasm comes through again:

Clint is smirking - he's managing to keep a concentrated face and stay mission focused, while asking Coulson for further and updated instructions. (Aka him cashing in on the 'I'll let you know' from earlier). Then, as Thor walks up to the hammer, he asks again, 'Last chance sir,' before Coulson tells him to wait. (He pulls the arrow closer to his chin, which is an aiming thing archers do, to find the spot where you know your aim is best. I don't really know how to explain this, it's something my archery teachers have been insisting on - finding a spot under your jaw where your hand will always be when you're taking a shot, so that you won't vary your posture and each shot will be the same).

Then, Thor tries to lift Mjölnir, and we all know how that goes, Clint disarms the bow (I don't know the word for that in English, sorry), and yadda yadda yadda, we all know what happened next. Or do we?

I know that Jeremy hadn't been cast yet (or at least, I think) while they were filming Thor (the raining scene was filmed later, I seem to recall Clark Gregg talking about how it was nice to see a face and actor replying to his lines? If anyone could link me that interview, I'd be more than happy to add it here!), so he couldn't film any actual scenes within the movie, but it still poses the question of where was Hawkeye after that scene? The little town is pretty much destroyed. But we still know that Thor, Jane and Selvig were under surveillance with Agent Garrett and Agent Cale who reported back to SHIELD. 

One can hypothesize that maybe Clint was sent in too, to keep an eye on things, reporting back to SHIELD in the same way, from another distance. Aka, this actually brings me to [Fury's Big Week](http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/The_Avengers_Prelude:_Fury's_Big_Week). (Which is a canon Avengers' prelude), which happens between Thor and The Avengers and ties in pretty much all the other Phase I movies together. (Yes, even the Incredible Hulk ties in here, even though a lot of tumblr fans seem to forget that that movie is actually consistent with the MCU timeline and that Tony Stark did a cameo in it.)  
(Yes, this is me being a pisshead).

Here is basically what happens:  **The first issue** of Fury's Big Week relates to _the birth of project PEGASUS_ , ordered by the World Security Council (asking Fury to drop all other assignments - looking for Cap, trying to get Stark into their agenda and get his weapons technology, keep a security lookout on Banner).  **The second issue** is Fury figuring out Banner has cleared customs, that Tony and Rhodey are fighting after Stark got drunk for his birthday party and has Coulson nagging at him about some off the charts reading that are not just a powerful thunderstorm.  **Third issue** is Coulson getting Fury's attention and getting himself sent to New Mexico.

Issue four is the first issue where Hawkeye is mentioned.

(Aka yes, this was Clint sleeping on a holiday, and yes, this is Nick Fury waking him up to send his ass to New Mexico).  
(Also yes, this happens just before the scene I just spend 1k words describing above, but here is where it gets interesting).

Right after Coulson tells him to stand down with Thor, Clint notices Jane run away from the fence, and he confronts Coulson as follows: 

"Cut him loose (...) After you shackled him, I saw some chick scrambling back to her car, all frantic. Logic suggests that she gave him a ride out here and she was about as subtle in getting away as he was getting in. (...) **_You want intel on this guy? Cut him loose and give him a tail._** "

Basically, Clint is the one who gets Coulson to agree to let Selvig take Thor away, under Thor's Donald Blake disguise. Which means he's still got his supervision thing spot on.

And, let's not forget this panel:

This is Loki trying to lift Mjölnir, and overhearing/seeing Clint and Coulson's discussion. And this also means, **_that Loki had already taken an interest in Clint right then and there_** : _was it because he had an insight to offer? Because he assessed the situation quickly? Because this Level 7 SHIELD agent Coulson seemed to take Clint's advice seriously and go ahead with it?_

(During this time, Fury sent Natasha to the university where Hulk is smashing at General Ross in the Incredible Hulk. Then it cuts to Natasha coming back to seeing Tony shake hands with Fury and agreeing to be a consultant. And right then and there, Coulson calls to say that the Destroyer is destroying the city).

Then, Clint comes along in his car, gets ordered to go into town by Coulson who is rescuing wounded, and while Coulson and Thor have their merry farewalls, Clint finds the dead/destroyed Destroyer:

(Yes, apparently MCU!Clint is a sarcastic piece of shit, and that's absolutely perfect. Now we just need a scene of Jeremy being the same piss poor sarcastic ass in Age of Ultron).

(Then, issue five has Natasha running errands for Fury in Harlem where Samuel Stern has just gotten the Hulk blood in his brain and where Abomination and Hulk are about to have their showdown).

Now, just to clear this out (I know I'm getting off track about Clint Barton, but a lot of people don't seem to have read Fury's Big Week, so I apologize for being lengthy about this), after it all ends, Fury tells the security council about what has happened during the week and tells them this:

(and, he also states that everything leads to the Tesseract with Thor and the Destroyer, and even his search for Cap: the only person to have personal knowledge of the Tesseract's power).

And, in the final issue, Fury assigns Clint to look over the PEGASUS site and keep an eye on Selvig, because apparently he's been acting up lately (possessed by Loki, like the final scene in Thor shows us). 

(Another hint to the fact that MCU!Clint is also a good laugh from time to time. Except we never got to witness that in Avengers, did we *deep sigh*)

Okay, I'm almost done with Fury's big week, but this is a really important panel:

And this hits me hard, because it shows that ever since Loki overheard Clint and Coulson in the New Mexico desert, _he's been keeping him in the back of his mind: because Clint has a good sense of supervision and he knows what's going on around SHIELD and he has enough influence to make people agree to his plans._

**NOW, let's move on to the Avengers!**

The movie opens up with the Tesseract (again), before cutting to the PEGASUS base where shit is about to go down. We know that Clint was assigned to keep an eye on PEGASUS by Nick Fury personally, and he's been doing just that: from a distance, as he usually does. ( _We see him see better from a distance to keep a supervision and control of the situation to report back to someone **3 times** in the Avengers movie_ : in PEGASUS, during the Helicarrier attack to free Loki, and in Manhattan when Tony asks him to keep an eye on the Chitauri force from the top of the building).

We see Clint up in the back so he can see everything that happens around the Tesseract. He's chosen to go back up to the rafters (in his nest, as says Selvig) to keep an eye on things as well as disappear from the crowd. I'm pretty sure this is a tactical move Clint made because one tends to forget people are there if you can't see them (and to be honest, Clint was quite far up).

Fury asked Hawkeye to report, so he does: 'No one's come or gone. And Selvig's clean. No contacts, no IMs.' ( **Remember how in Fury's Big Week, Fury asked Clint to keep an eye on Selvig because he had been acting off?** Clint calling Selvig clean gets a whole new level here because it means that either a) Loki let go of Selvig when he realized that they were working on creating a bridge or nudging at the Tesseract with the new element Tony created in IM2, or b) Loki is still within Selvig and actually managed to pass off naturally and get close to Clint with whom he probably had a few laughs ("he's one of my best men and a good laugh from time to time" said Fury in one of the above panels) to get a fix on Clint too. How else would Loki know that Clint has got heart?

Is it because he's seen Clint work for SHIELD, being a good agent and a kind man? 

Then, Clint says this:

([x](http://spectralarchers.tumblr.com/post/102445930067) - the reason I'm linking to this post is because I saw I've reblogged it about 4 times in my Clint Barton tag as I was researching gifs for this post and I think we all need to remember this post (and because I'm going to reference it)).

Aka, the post I just linked to has tags that ask to appreciate the fact that Clint figured out what the Tesseract was doing before the physicists that SHIELD hired to get the Tesseract to do something. And he uses logic that is so mindblowingly simple that the scientists didn't even think of it. Fury knows that Clint is clever - that's why he assigned him to this mission while Natasha was undercover in Asia somewhere (mention in Fury's Big Week).

This is the third time in the MCU that we see Clint realize things before everyone else: the first one was when he told Coulson that sending more guys in to beat Thor wasn't working, the second one was when he told Coulson to let Thor go because he saw Jane running away, and this is the third one. Clint may sound like an idiot who likes to sleep when he's on vacation, BUT he pays good damn attention to what's going on around him, and that's the skill that Fury needs. It might also be why Loki went after him in the first place: _if Clint pays attention to all these details all the time and keeps them in his mind, who's to say that he doesn't know A LOT about the Avengers and any potential threat to Loki's takeover of earth_?

I just also want to point out that while Clint says the 'doors open from both sides' _he half shrugs_. It's natural to him to make that assumption, because he doesn't see any other reason for it to act this way. (Kudos to Jeremy Renner's acting choices here). ((NB There might be several of those kudos' because he wasn't given much space to work with and I think he did an amazing job at it).

Then, the Tesseract peaks again, and it explodes Bifrost/doorway thing and Loki appears. Now, let's all remember what exactly happens when people realize that there is an intruder: Clint let's the agents go closer, while staying close to Fury. (Assess the situation and observe).

Fury makes contact with Loki, asking him to put down the spear, and as soon as Loki lifts the scepter to throw a blast of energy at him and Clint, _CLINT PUSHES FURY OUT OF THE WAY._ As soon as he's done that, he grabs his gun and shoots Loki straight in the face (not at my best with a gun, my ass Clint, you're not fooling anyone):

which probably pisses Loki a lot off (I would be pissed off if I just got shot in the face by someone), and Loki heads straight to Clint once he's assessed that nobody is moving within the lab right away.

He looks at Clint, and says (like I have to remind you), "You have heart." I already spoke of what this means and where he got it from (from his possession of Selvig?)

The first person Loki needs to control is Clint. (Next time you watch the movie, pay attention to how Loki seems to breathe out when Clint puts his gun back in his holster and _only then_ does he go for other agents).

Then, (sorry, I keep using that word all the time), Fury starts talking to Loki, and as Selvig engages the conversation, Clint pays attention to what's going on behind Fury (the blue cracking lights that's going to explode - yet again proves the fact that Clint pays attention to every fucking thing around him and makes the calculations of cause and consequence in his head fast), and tells Loki what Fury is doing. 

He knows Fury, he knows that Fury will probably sacrifice his own life if it means burrying them all underground because of that implosion. The look that Clint and Fury exchanges when Clint states that 'He means to bury us' (and the way he says it), as well as Fury's reply (Like the pharaoh's of old), shows us that Fury is acknowledging and agreeing with Clint's statement (of course Clint was right, Clint's one of his best agents and he was the one observing Selvig).

And, as Selvig tells them it's about to go critical, Clint shoots Fury in what appears to be the shoulder, but I think that Fury's wearing some kind of a vest. **Except, why didn't Clint shoot him in the face? He just shot Loki in the face, didn't he?** _So his aim isn't off_. Even Fury notices this, in one of the deleted scenes:

([x](http://stormxpadme.tumblr.com/post/66802392787/clint-barton-fully-possessed-in-the-avengers-or) \- this is a very good piece of headcanon/discussion that Stormxpadme wrote about this scene that I'm also relying on)

After that, while Fury's down, he grabs the Tesseract case and heads out. He commandeers the cars, and Hill confronts him. Clint acts calm and composed, as does Selvig and the other dude Loki has turned, and they head to the car. It's only when Fury gets into contact with Hill that Clint engages to kill or maim :

([x](http://govthookercoulson.tumblr.com/post/66633407464/and-here-we-see-hawkeye-undercover-and-shooting-a))

Maria rolls away and Clint takes the lead in a car chase. But that's not so important, so I'm just going to skip ahead. (This part of the meta up until the end of the 'tell me what you need' scene I already wrote one time but TUMBLR FUCKED ME IN THE ASS AND DIDn'T SAVE IT SO I'm re-writing it which is why it might not be as genuine as the rest of it. Fuck *sighs*)

ANYWAY.

THE NEXT SCENE we see after Fury has just told Coulson that the Tesseract is with a hostile force is Natasha in the interrogation scene with the mobsters. The point of the scene is to show Natasha's special skillset, but the most important plot point is that everything changes with Coulson's phone call: Barton's been compromised. Those only three words are enough to get her to change her stance and to abandon her mission (this is the Black Widow we're talking about, who went to Harlem to report back to Fury in the Incredible Hulk, who went to take care of Tony Stark even though he was being a pain, the one who never broke cover with Pepper, and here she just absolutely drops EVERYTHING because Barton has been compromised).

The first thing that she does once she's handled the mobsters is ask where Clint is, to what Coulson replies that he doesn't know. What? He doesn't know? WHAT THE HELL? How can that happen? Literally, he could probably scan the world and find Clint, they probably know all of his safehouses all the places he would go, but they don't. Then, Natasha asks if he's alive, and again, Coulson tells her that they aren't sure: what the fuck? Don't they know? Sure they know Loki did something to him, but they aren't even sure if Clint is alive?

Okay.

So, next scene (if we skip Natasha getting Banner on the team), is Fury talking to the World Security Council. The scene would have been a bit longer if we included the deleted scene that I have already mentioned in this meta (but I'm going to link to it again, just because I can and because this is my meta):

([x](http://stormxpadme.tumblr.com/post/66802392787/clint-barton-fully-possessed-in-the-avengers-or))

This makes almost 3 very Clint centered scenes after each other: Loki taking Clint, Natasha dropping her mission for Clint, Fury acknowledging the fact that Clint didn't take the headshot. This would have made so much difference on the perception of Clint's character by the lambda watcher because it would have shown the importance that he actually has. A lot of people were pissed because he only had a few minutes' screentime, but without Clint being brainwashed, there was NO MOVIE. He is literally the only reason why Loki manages all he manages, and that's because Clint is an amazing SHIELD agent that Loki has taken control of. 

The next scene that we see Clint gives us SO MANY IMPORTANT PLOT POINTS ABOUT CLINT AND LOKI AND ALL THAT:

First, they're down under the earth. They're in a tunnel, and a lot of scientists have rallied to Loki's cause, thanks to Clint (Selvig asks Clint where he found all those people, to what Clint replies that SHIELD has no shortage of enemies). I bet he found some Hammer tech guys, some scientists that were working with dangerous things, some people here and there, and that he managed to fit them all under one roof.

I love this scene, because it shows the different of action that the Tesseract has on Selvig and Barton. Selvig is all mad!scientist tropey: he is embracing what the Tesseract gives him (basically all horror movie scientists that go wrong is because they found something new and couldn't wait to try it out, and that sounds a lot like what Selvig is going through), and Barton is so result oriented and phased by what he needs to do as Loki's general/commander/captain/whatever you want to call it.

Also, kudos to Jeremy Renner's acting choices to emphasize the little rivalry/dislikery that Selvig and Barton have going:

([x](http://spectralarchers.tumblr.com/post/108549722207) \- he doesn't give three shits, and that headshake in the second makes me laugh so loud. Clint is all 'my god this fucking idiot scientist I can't believe he's all over the place like that. KUDOS TO YOU JEREMY RENNER.)

But, the scene also shows us this:

to what, Loki, in the movie, replies with 'tell me what you need' and Clint goes ' a distraction, and an eyeball' before snapping his bow open in that flawless snap motion.

BUT, the deleted scene here would have made so much of a difference, had it been included in the final cut. Here, let me show  you:

See the rivalry between Selvig and Barton? With Loki in the background, looking at them like children arguing? You can bet your ass it's Loki's scepter acting the EXACT same way that it does on the helicarrier when Banner, Fury, Romanoff, Thor, Stark and Rogers are arguing on the bridge: Loki is the god of mischief and trickery, and you can practically feel the frustration between Barton and Selvig here.

But, the other important thing is that Clint knows what he's doing: lead flooring to hide the Tesseract's signatures (gamma/heat/whatever), because he knows they will be looking for it (obviously). Selvig pushes his buttons, and instead of acting the way he usually does (he does so in comics, too), Clint doesn't let Selvig step on him. This is one of the rarest times I've seen Clint speak up about his decisions to anybody, and he does it with a barking effect.

Loki then proceeds to tell Clint that he understansd why Fury chose him to guard the cube - and this is some sort of disguised telling him that this is why he chose Clint as the first one to mind control too. If he has been keeping an eye on Clint ever since Clint told Coulson to let Thor go in New Mexico, I'm probably sure that this is Loki praising Clint for his tactical decisions.

The deleted scene then continues:

([x](http://spectralarchers.tumblr.com/post/108769873957))

This shows that Clint knows about the Avengers Initiative. He probably knows about Phase 2 (making weapons out of the Destroyer from Thor), but he also knows about the team. He knows about Stark, he knows about Banner, he knows about Thor (he was there in New Mexico), he knows about Natasha most of them all. He knows her past, because he is an integrate part of it, as she tells Loki later on. He knows how to push their buttons, and I'm sure this comes from his observing skills. 

**LIAR LIAR, I SMELL A LIAR.** REmember the headshot you did on Loki in the VERY FIRST SCENE OF THE MOVIE? Not at my best with a gun, PUH-LEASE. Clint, you're not fooling anyone. (Well, except Loki). 

This scene however also shows us that Clint is lying. Or at least, that he hasn't embraced the Tesseract like Selvig has: _Clint has been fighting the alien mind control ever since the first second,_ and I can prove that by pointing to the first order Loki gives him once Clint has been turned: to kill Fury, or at least get rid of him. And what does Clint do? He shoots Fury in his kevlar vest. Which, if I were Loki, would have pissed me off. He didn't kill Fury, because he didn't want to. He didn't kill Hill, because he didn't want to.

 _This shows that Clint is aware of what is going on around him, and even though his mind might not be his own entirely, **he is trying to fight it.**_ (Asking again, why was this scene cut from the movie????). 

The fact that he tells Loki that he missed IS SO FUCKING IMPORTANT FOR CLINT'S CHARACTER TOO, OKAY?

Clint is the only human on a team of super humans, gods, super spies, etc. And he knows it. Has known it ever since the beginning.

([x](http://nogummybearleftbehind.tumblr.com/post/102025092153/aww-arrows-from-secret-wars-6-by-jim-shooter) \- Secret Wars, from 1984, which is basically Clint saying that he needs to NOT MISS otherwise he's just another guy with a bow. And a lot of Clint's comic book storylines are about this fact, and it's really important to see it addressed in the MCU as well).

([x](http://spectralarchers.tumblr.com/post/108771149847))

This new interaction tells us that _Clint is already working on a way out_. Loki has just told him that he wants to know all about the team. Clint can give him all the juicy details - as he does, as we can see with Loki and Natasha's interaction (there seems to be an emerging pattern here, everytime important scenes happens, Clint had some sort of mention even though he wasn't there. Least important character in the movie? Get out of my face).

Clint tells Loki what he needs to know, and then he's already working on getting Loki to what he needs. He can use Loki to locate the Helicarrier (which he couldn't pin down earlier, remember?) and then use that to take it down, retrieve all he needs, yadda yadda yadda.

This makes me believe that one of the things that the Tesseract did with Clint, was to remove the act that he always puts on when he's supposed to be the not-so-smart guy.

([x](http://isjustprogress.tumblr.com/post/106912917336/marvelsmarvels-secret-avengers-2014-issue) \- Maria Hill picks up on that act in Secret Avengers, and I know it's not MCU canon, but come on... that gives it a little bit more credibility).

The next scene is the team arriving in Germany. Getting Loki recognized by SHIELD to draw the 'team' out and get Loki aboard the Helicarrier is a big part of Clint's plan because he can't find the Helicarrier on his own, so he has to let the Helicarrier find itself. 

Clint knows how to hack the German science place, and he knows how to get the things. However, even though his skillset is to kill, **he doesn't kill the guards** :

([x](http://stormxpadme.tumblr.com/post/66802392787/clint-barton-fully-possessed-in-the-avengers-or))

The only reason why the second one dies is because he falls down a building, but both times, Clint shoots them in the shoulder. That's not a lethal place to shoot anyone, and honestly, Clint could have gone with the headshot here too. But he didn't?

Then, he gets the stone/meteor/thing he needs, and gets out of there while Loki plays the good prisoner. Fury picks up on that when he says that 'why do I feel like he's the only one who's happy to be there' (or something along those lines), We don't see Clint until the quinjet scene where he shoots at the turbine of the Helicarrier.

I've always thought weird about this, because I don't understand why he didn't just shoot two of the turbines (Maria Hill insists (or somebody else, I can't remember) that if another rotor goes down they'll all die, so why didn't Clint just shoot another tick-tick-boom arrow at another turbine and hope that the Hulk cage would keep Loki from dying in the event of the Helicarrier crashing? And why did Loki have to go into the Helicarrier in the first place? What do they need? I don't understand why they had to find the Helicarrier. Except to kill everybody on board, which seemed to go pretty well with Clint's plan.

([x](http://stormxpadme.tumblr.com/post/98798390029))

Clint is seen leading the team here. He's been leading everyone (Loki has just been waiting for Clint to do the work until the portal opens, to be honest), and Clint is leading the attack against the Helicarrier because he knows its weaknesses. (I'm not going to talk about the fact that Clint isn't wearing an oxygen mask because he's too badass for that? Look at Jeremy's acting though, Clint keeps his mouth closed all the time, to spare the oxygen waste, I bet. Or something).

([x](http://spectralarchers.tumblr.com/post/103125794232))

This entire scene makes me think about Clint here so much, because he orders them to keep the engine down. Then, he orders some of them to go to the detention room (get Loki out, so that Thor can get into the cage), and then he tells the others to stay close. 

I don't have the gifs for it, so I'll just go ahead and keep going with it, because he asks the soldiers to follow him to create a distraction so he can shoot the hackery arrow into the Helicarrier and get it to reboot, before he heads for detention level to find Loki again (why does he go alone when he hasn't been alone for days?)

The fact that Natasha finds him and fights him is very very symbolic, because **Black Widow is the only person who can take Hawkeye in hand to hand comba** t. 

( _I am not going to geek out over the fact that he tries to go at her with a knife either, since little carnie!kid!Clint learnt knife throwing in comic book canon before he learnt archery, since he was first an apprentice with Jacques DuQuesne before Buck Chisholm came into the picture, but that's just me being a Clint geek_ )

Also, let's remember that Clint never misses.

But hey!

Behold!

What is this?

([x](http://loveholic198.tumblr.com/post/88554304494)) HE MISSED NATASHA!

And also!

HOT DAMN look at the rage that Jeremy managed to convey during the fight scene! The utter rage between the two characters, Clint is ready to kill Natasha, and it's only when Natasha manages to knock his head really hard that it all goes out.

Clint just falls flat, recognizes Natasha, and Natasha just knocks him straight out. 

Okay, SO. Let us just summarize what has happened so far:

Clint understood the Tesseract before everybody else. As mindcontrolled, he:

Knows Fury is stalling. Knows they need to get out. Gets rid of Fury without killing him. Gets out of there without killing Hill. Gathers scientists for Loki and Selvig and keeps them hidden underneath leadlining. Tells Loki about the Avengers team. Goes to Germany and gets meteorite stone for Selvig. Asks soldiers to help Selvig set up camp on Stark tower because he knows that the tower is self sustained because of the ark reaktor (or how the hell you write it). Gets Loki captured by the Avengers. Figures out an escape plan. Takes down one turbine. Hacks the others. The the team's attention while he goes to free Loki by having the Hulk hulk out. 

Gets knocked on the head. 

He is out for what, a couple of hours, most? 

And his first worry when he comes to is Natasha unstrapping him. They then have a lengthy conversation about debts, killing other agents (he knows what he's done, and he probably knows he tried not to but he will still feel guilty forever for what he did, even though he minimized the killing. I mean, he didn't kill Fury, for one).

And, then, right then and there, Cap shows up and asks if they can fly a jet.

AND DON'T YOU DARE LINK ME TO THE POST OF THE GIFSET OF CLINT SAYING THIS AND CRASHING THE JET.

LET ME LINK YOU TO THE OTHER ONE I LIKE BETTER:

([x](http://peterquill.tumblr.com/post/33235446772))

The only reason the jet crashes is because it got hit by Chitauri fire.

THIS FAR, Clint has gotten no rest at all since the mindcontrol, (I'm pretty sure he didn't sleep while under Loki's control either, just look at his eyes in the shot where he shoots the tick-tick-boom arrow at the helicarrier, he looks freaking exhausted). 

He changes his clothes into his battle gear, and goes headfirst into the New York battle. He saves civilians from the bus, Stark/Cap tells him to keep an eye on the battle from high up: again, SUPERVISION, which he has done a lot of times already too before.

Clint is important, because he keeps track of what happens, and when he can't do that anymore, he goes through a window to save his ass.

([x](http://spectralarchers.tumblr.com/post/98820245252))

And then, after that, we don't see him anymore? Until the final shot?

Where Clint is kneeling. He's the only one not standing up.

And then, the Shawarma scene?

He's got his leg up. 

And, I'll just link to this [post here](http://gifthoughts.tumblr.com/post/37486405218/i-was-watching-the-avengers-for-the-bajillionth). No, actually, let me quote it:

> Clint broke a New York City skyscraper window feet first. 
> 
> It’s not a sign of love and friendship.
> 
> It’s a sign that Hawkeye is IN PAIN. Whether it be his ankle or his knee, or a bone in his leg. He screwed SOMETHING up and his leg needs elevation. 
> 
> The end. 

And literally, this entire movie has just been a pain for Clint. He probably just needed a lot of rest after that. (No, I'm not bitter about not seeing him in phase 2. One can only hope Age of Ultron makes up for it).

I will not even go into the theory jam I can pull off about Clint/the scepter from the post credits scene in Cap 2/Wanda Maximoff mind fuck powers and Ultron. 

So there.

Now I'm done.

If you read it all, congrats, you are now a member of the Official Clint Barton Hawkeye Defense Squad. You just read over 5,800 words of meta on a character who didn't have much screentime but who has one of the absolute most important roles in the movie.

Without Hawkeye, Loki wouldn't have managed as far as he did. Without Hawkeye, the movie would have gone a whole different way.

Okay?

Now, if you're excited for Age of Ultron, clap your hands!

~~(Also, if you could drop an ask and give me your feedback, yell at me or discuss these things with me, I'd love it!)~~


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